Starbucks History
A Past Worth Remembering

When considering successful franchises it seems appropriate to look at Starbucks history. Not just a neighborhood coffee shop, Starbucks Coffee Company has become synomous with quality products and service. Whether you are Generation X or part of Generation Y, the working class and the technologically advanced youth has embraced what Starbucks has to offer - even if they have to stand a half an hour in line to get it.

But once you are sipping your venti decaf, non-fat, sugar-free vanilla latte with no foam, do you ever wonder how it all started? Do you know of Starbucks history, and why people of all ages were willing to pay nearly $6.00 for something that is seemingly worth a lot less? Starbucks Marketing Strategy implements many of the high ideals within the Starbucks mission statement . These motivating factors are largely responsible for this franchise's success.

Like successful franchises (i.e. MacDonalds), Starbucks started with a vison that was followed through to the end. And, just as in other highly success ventures, the leaders that held the Starbuck's vision, have not rested on its laurels. Starbucks Coffee Company is still expanding in interesting and groundbreaking ways even today.

The environmentally conscious Starbucks Corporate Social Responsibilty statement speaks to a new breed of businesses that care about their carbon footprint. With the influence of this forward-thinking company, and its consistently innovative approach to each viral marketing campaign - others companies should start taking notes.

It All Started with a Passion for Fresh Coffee

Starbucks history owes its beginnings to three friends, Jerry, Zev Siegel, and Gordon Bowker. Inspired by a friend, Alfred Peet, who owned Peet’s Coffee and Tea, they wanted to open a store, sell premium coffee beans and specialty equipment in Seattle’s Pike Place Market. In 1976, they opened their very first store at 2000 Western Avenue, bought green coffee beans from Peet’s, and started their coffee roasting business.

In 1980, Starbucks was now well-known as the largest coffee roaster in Washington, with six retail outlets. Zev Siegel also decided that it was time for him to move on, and his two partners bought him out.

After ten years of Starbucks history (1981), a man named Howard Schultz, who was a sales representative for one of Starbucks’ suppliers, Hammerplast, became fascinated with the coffee roasting company, and the amount of plastic brewing thermoses that they were ordering. In 1982, Jerry Baldwin hired him as head of management.

The Roots of a Splendid Idea

A few years later, Howard Schultz attended an international housewares show in Milan, Italy. It was in this time during Starbucks history that the concept of what the company is today would be born. Schultz had discovered the passionate coffee culture in Italy, and as he sipped his first cup of caffe latte in Verona, Italy, he reveled at how customers would drink coffee for hours, socialize, study or read, and enjoy the trendy coffee house surroundings. He wanted to bring the same concept to the U.S. and he believed in its potential to bring Starbucks to the next level.

The Beginning of Starbucks Today

Unfortunately, Baldwin didn’t share the same enthusiasm, but he did allow the opening of a small espresso bar in one of their stores. In 1985, with belief that his idea would become successful, Schultz went out on his own, and opened a coffee shop with his idea. He named the shop, “Il Giornale”, and started selling espresso drinks. Schultz was right. In a few years, his idea became an amazing success.
The year 1987 was another milestone in Starbucks history because it was the year that Schultz, along with local investors, raised enough capital to buy Starbucks from Jerry Baldwin and Gordon Bowker for 3.7 million. Schultz re-established Starbucks by combining the operations of Starbucks and Il Giornale, resulting in the Starbucks Corporation today.

A Promising Future

Schultz had promised local investors that Starbucks would open 125 stores over the next 5 years. The company exceeded expectations, and instead of 125 stores, it had opened 165 over the allotted time. Another highlight in Starbucks history that shot its growth with unbelievable speed was the year, 1992. The company decided to go public, and it opened more and more stores; even outside the United States! It also initiated several business extensions, such as selling tea through its Tazo Tea Company, Frappuccino ice blended drinks and Starbucks coffee online. According to the official Starbucks website, the company now has more than 6,000 locations in 30 countries all over the world!